Stability, or the Lack Thereof

I was on the road for work a few days this week, sadly cutting off my minute-by-minute contact with the Warriors’ comings and goings. It’s telling, however, that after roughly 72 hours out of the loop, it actually took some research to figure out (1) who is coaching the team tonight and for the coming weeks, (2) whether we have 8 bodies to put into uniform, and (3) which one of those 8 bodies is on the outside of Nelson’s rotation looking in. Young players need a certain amount of stability to find their roles, gain their confidence, and gradually grow into their raw talent. For a variety of reasons — some due to chance, others due to very conscious choices — the Warriors have yet to find that stability either this year or last. If the current state of the team is any indication, the Warriors’ players shouldn’t expect solid ground on which to develop their careers anytime soon.

Let me be explicitly clear with my first point: the Warriors have suffered a ton of injuries and illnesses. Those afflictions make developing a consistent line-up and defining “normal” roles a challenge. Players drop in and out of the rotation, making chemistry harder to develop. I’m not blaming Don Nelson, Larry Riley, Chris Cohan, or anyone else for those injuries. They’re a sad fact for the Warriors this season and should be part of any discussion about what ails the team.

But — and this is a big but — to dismiss the Warriors poor play entirely based on injuries is a vastly simplistic, and ultimately unproductive, way of analyzing their current play. Injuries don’t explain away choices made regarding the players left on our roster — and they don’t excuse the team’s actions that exacerbate the club’s instability. Injuries can frame the discussion about what’s going on (and wrong) with the Warriors at the moment, but they shouldn’t automatically end it.

For example:

Teams with young players or new players need to forge some sort of chemistry or identity. The Warriors proved as much when they played their most inspiring basketball of the season at their most short-handed. With only 6 players against the Mavs — and with only a few more in the games before and after — the coaching staff was limited in terms of how much it could tinker with the rotations and try to game the match-ups. The younger players largely stopped looking over the shoulders when they made mistakes. They still made plenty of mistakes — but they also made plays, showing off for extended periods the skills we’ve only seen glimpses of previously. And it wasn’t just the young guys who played better. Even the veterans seemed to mesh better into the overall flow of the game when given greater chance to run. I’m not arguing that we should play with only 6 guys each night, but with a shortened roster players know (1) what type of playing time they can expect and (2) what role they’re likely going to be asked to assume. Those are two questions that have been extremely difficult to answer when Nelson has been coaching this team. I’m also not arguing that players should just be given minutes automatically — there needs to be some flexibility later in the game, as I talk about below — but guys should know particularly early in the game that they’ll be given extended chances to demonstrate what they can do. And if those chances can come at the same position every night, and be focused on playing the same role on the team, all the better.

If Don Nelson is going to be the coach of this team, he needs to coach it. If not, he needs to get out of the way so players know who makes the final calls. I have no doubt that Nelson was sick. He may still be suffering the side effects of his illness. If that’s the case, he needs to stay off the bench until he’s 100% better. Coaching a game here, a game there, then turning things over to Keith Smart on the road only contributes to the sense of uncertainty over who is calling the shots. It compounds the problem above regarding unclear roles and responsibilities. Again, injuries and illness are a reality — but running a part-time coaching system doesn’t make dealing with those injuries any easier. I understand Nelson’s apparent desire to get back in the driver’s seat as soon as possible, but by rushing back, then leaving again, he’s only hurting himself and the team. And if this latest change isn’t really about his illness — but is instead some slow shift to the front office while he tries to rack up wins for the record — then Riley, Rowell, and Cohan are making a huge mistake in tolerating it, at the expense of time that could be used by a new coach with total control to forge a new identity for the team.

When the team is short-handed and struggling to find contributors, the last thing to do is yank a hot combination of players and send them to the bench never to be seen again, as Nelson did Thursday night against the Rockets. I understand Nelson’s constant desire to adjust for match-ups and attempt to exploit mismatches, but sometimes you have to trust that your hot players can use whatever energy and chemistry they have going in a game to compensate for whatever perceived mismatch they may face. It’s an aggressive — rather than responsive — approach to coaching. Force the other team to deal with our hot players, rather than assume that our guys will be unable to cope, leading to their replacement by other less-hot options. Nelson continues to insist on coaching from the top down — his perception of how mismatches will perform, imposed upon the real or imagined abilities of his roster — rather than from the bottom up — observing who is excelling at the moment, and structuring the late-game rotations around them. The single largest difference I noticed between Smart and Nelson is that Smart was more willing to coach with the flow of the game rather than against it. There’s a limit to playing the hot hand — not everyone can go 48 minutes a night — but when players have a great stretch in the third quarter, they shouldn’t head to the bench wondering whether they’ll make it into the game again.

And finally, following my “Monta Ellis is a Superstar” pronouncement earlier this week, he hasn’t quite lived up to the billing. I’ll stand by my statement — Ellis recently showed the game-changing offensive ability that the Warriors have lacked for quite a while now — but those questioning whether Ellis is making his teammates better raise a valid point. Ideally, Ellis’ great offensive ability is used to create open looks for others, and Ellis finds those other players in positions where they can score. Whether than means big men beneath the basket, Morrow or Vlad outside, or Curry in a spot where he can quickly identify and pass to the man freed by any rotating double-team, Ellis’ ability to draw lots of defensive attention should make our offense run more smoothly. So what’s gone wrong? Ellis does need to do more to look for others. He’s doing better with it, but far too often just gets stuck up in the air not knowing where he’s going to go with the ball. Dealing with his bad habits, however, involves coaching both Ellis and the rest of the team. If Ellis knows that when he goes up in the air on a given play, someone will be open under the basket or at the arc, he’s more likely to have a safety valve to prevent a turnover. But too often it looks like the team either isn’t executing an offensive plan that includes those safety valve options, or simply doesn’t have an offensive plan that includes them in the first place. There’s obviously still room for improvement, but with a little more structure and some big men to actually clear rebounds and start the break, the Ellis we saw in the past few weeks could be the centerpiece of a pretty fundamentally sound offensive system.

The Warriors’ schedule isn’t about to get any easier with the Magic tonight and an upcoming road trip, but here’s hoping the choices the team makes in the upcoming weeks don’t make a bad situation even worse.

Adam Lauridsen

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you guys are over-thinking this: curry will be fine, ellis will be fine. let’s get to maggette. consider this: maggette, through all his opportunities, has not come up big in ONE WIN against a quality opponent so far in his warrior tenure. morrow has, cj has (two very flawed players), kaz etc etc; even newcomers curry and vlad! maybe even hunter! even in the portland blowout, maggs was a -12! we need to disseminate his horrible nature and impact upon the game/team. even when he left the game, after the damage had been done, the team was still reeling in nausea from his after-effect. and for all the marco talk: we were fun and competitive when he was worked into the rotation. that’s it. more than maggette could ever muster. and we saw barnes last night, who is three times the player for 1/8th of the price…

Trading Jason Richardson: it can be argued reasonably, both ways. But for the FO to strike out completely, not get “their man” and then not get “any man” is a clear judgement. FO fail.

Not going 5 years 65 million for BD can also be argued, but it is a win in my view. But for the FO to throw more money toward Brand and Arenas, and then to Maggette is also a clear FAIL. At the time, the discussion of Billups contract seemed like to much of a time committment, but given the FO knee jerk responses and lack of plan, in retrospect, BD to Detroit for Chauncey Billups would have made very good sense. Another front office FAIL.

99% of the dubs bloggers agree on all of this. Right?

Extending Nelson and Jackson will get some argument here, but I think that both were and are FO FAIL.

I can list 10 of the last 30 Warriors’ contract dealings and the are 80% FAIL.

So if I talk about the coaching, it is never meant to deflect the LACK OF A COHERENT PLAN by the FO, who have continued to give it to you from behind.

too short

too many words. too many. too many words.

dr_john

sk:

You are correct, the price was not right. Should have let Utah or SA or Boston or some other go lock him up—they were interested. For better or worse, perhaps Boozer would be a Warrior now.

But I’m not dumping on Corey. He’s been around, he can play some, and he doesn’t inflame situations in the press. It’s not his fault that he is allowed to shoot stupid shots, nor that he is played out of position—over, and over, and over.

He is not the cancer. He is, for the Warriors, overpriced. Forget the $.

When he is used at the right position for the right minutes he has been a contributor, probably more productive than ever in his career. He is sharing the ball better than he ever did.

There are some impartial stats that would confirm this for you. But your eyes should be enough to tell you—Corey is not at the heart of the Warriors’ problems this year.

believewhat

CM did come up good when Monta fouled out few games back. He went like 7-0 in crunch time. So, looks like he is capable player, just inconsistent. Also, there are reports that he is a good locker room presence(can’t confirm that but also, did he ever whine about his role or lack of in the team). Anyway, I still think Magette should go but in return Ws need a contributor preferable at PF, don’t care much about Cohan’s money. Ws could have and should have got more in return for Jackson by simply sending him home and waiting for the right deal.

(Not so) Tired

The Doctor

Thanks for the sanity. 🙂

James

Yes it is me, Tired. I was hoping that i was going to be less tired because of the better team play and the yoots getting more time. I’m happy with a lot of what is going on. I really don’t care if they win as long as some progress is being made and maintained. We saw both last night and in the other games, after Jackson. We also saw some of the same old stuff. Whatever happens in terms of wins, this is more fun.

——-

Monta got roofed several times last night, and he made some good passes. Hopefully he learns something. Seeing his BD and Jax imitations is brutal.

Curry is still learning, but in a slightly less dysfunctional environment, so there is hope. He always seems to pull a couple of amazing defensive plays and rebounds along with his mistakes. I like him, very much. I don’t like seeing him standing over in the corner like Crawford used to do.

Hunter is a great find. If only the rest of the players were as focussed and fundamentally sound. The cool thing about him is that it doesn’t seem like he is going to join in with the bad habit crowd.

Orlando took most of the night off. Being an experienced playoff team, they knew what to do to win. We aren’t there yet. We went back to the old habits when the pressure was on.

——-

Nellie on AR: “I was surprised that he lasted as long as he did. Usually he gets tired after about 4 minutes so i have to pull him out.”

What games has HE been watching? So it was an endurance issue all along. Hmmm. Now I understand!

Nelson also said that he would “not leave rookies or young players in the game at the end under normal circumstances,” but he had no choice.

Lucky for us. So much for trying to read his mind. There it is in black and white, for those of you who still wonder. Why do we argue about the obvious?

And for the sycophants: excuses are for losers.

———-

Time for my last leftovers. Curried turkey soup and some Pinot Grigio.

Otis

Believewhat,

We got a good deal for Jackson just by getting rid of him. When you add that Vlad’s a big body with what appears to be a good attitude, and then Bell when he comes back, and some cap space, it’s a downright steal. Seriously. I thought we’d have to give up someone good just to get rid of him.
I kinda like Vlad.
I’m not sold right now on Curry.
I want him shooting a few thousand shots a day on his own. He’s got to be lights out from the outside. That’ll open up a lot of things. As it is now he’s not shooting well, and it’s starting to remind me of what I felt with Dunleavy. Remember? We all thought he’d be lights out watching him at Duke and he never hit a big three with us. He’d clang one after another.
So hit the gym Stephen, and lift a few weights while you’re there.
I think having Brandon Wright this year would have made a big difference.

As for Maggette, I say showcase him. Let him get some serious stats, and then make a strong trade with him.
If he’s scoring say 22 a game he’s going to attract some interest.

earl monroe

Curry is a rookie, the fortunate thing for him is, he is getting run, he will be better,
maybe this year for sure next year, hopefully Ellis will develop some passing skills.
Randolph will only get better, building around these 3 can be special.
Curry and Randolph will continue to have ups and downs, but they need to play.
These two can be potentially very good, the same cannot be said of the others.
So Ellis will carry the team for now, but can he learn to pace himself and use the other players effectively? If its just him going one on one its going to be problematic
Kobe had to learn this the hard way.
It does not look like this team is going anywhere anyway

Still, I gave an A for the effort. Some of the rotations obviously were working, though perhaps not pointed toward the endgame.

If the coach was saving Hunter and Moore for the endgame, what happened? If not, why not?

5 minutes? Given what we’ve seen in the past several games?

nelliesbiggestfan

dr. john 145

I think the analogy is better than you think, but I wasn’t trying to link you with republicans. Republicans and democrats shouldn’t grade each other because they have fundamental differences in not only the solutions to society’s problems but the causes of the problems themselves. How can you grade Nellie’s coaching when you don’t agree at all with his basketball philosophy ? If I were a Bobcat fan I would always be screaming at Larry Brown to put in somebdy that can shoot. I wouldn’t be able to objectively evaluate his coaching because I don’t agree with the way he approaches the game. I like offense, he likes defense.

The reason you didn’t see Hunter in the second half is that Nellie doesn’t play two non-shooters on the court at the same time, ever. He just doesn’t do it. Since AR was playing so well there was no room for Hunter.

You “would not be able to objectively evaluate his coaching because I don’t agree with the way he approaches the game.”

Unobjective. Unable. Disagree.

Your epitaph, in tres partes.

nelliesbiggestfan

dr. john

I admit my biases , you should do the same.

CURSE OF MULLIN

Talk about lack of stability. Kind of a pathetic YMCA-like BBall snippet from Curry’s gq blog after the Cleveland game:

“So we had exactly eight. It was kind of funny: when we walked out to take our layups, the Cleveland fans were laughing because they realized that we were the only players that our team had. You got the rebound, and you had to dribble out to half-court, and turn around to go shoot your own layup. There was no one to pass it to you.”

dr_john

That’s not a very smart answer. Randolph was hardly a “non-shooter”. And even if he was, so what? What kind of inflexible logic would not put two effective big players on the court when needed?

Well, we know the answer to that, most of us anyway.

Three smalls three smalls!
Three smalls to start the start!
Three smalls to finish the finish!
No Smarts to start
No Smarts to finish

19,054!
19,054!
19,054!

CURSE OF MULLIN

nbf: You may have to soften your Randolph/non-shooter pitch if he gets over 20 again tomorrow night.

CURSE OF MULLIN

AR could GO OFF against OKC.

CURSE OF MULLIN

CC: Keep watching your AI at pg highlight reruns and the rest of us will keep track of incidental pg stats like assist/turnover ratio.

dr_john

I am going to admit my bias, right here, right now for nbf.

I am biased towards the Hall of Fame coach, Larry Brown.
He won EConf championship with 13th off/5th def team Phi
He won NBA 2nd with 17th off/3rd def Det
He won NBA title with 18th off/ 2nd def Det
He won EConf 2nd with 8th off/ 6th def Ind
He won EConf 2nd with 11th off/ 8th def Ind

etc. not counting NCAA or othe good NBA stints.

Do I want Larry Brown to coach the Warriors? No, not now. Perhaps 4 years ago. 🙁

Is he ALL about defense? No, that is a simplification. Can he win with average offense and his defense? Yes, it is proven. At each level.

Let’s wait until Jax retires for an unbiased voice.

nelliesbiggestfan

Curse

you are right ! I can’t wait for the day I can no longer call AR a non-shooter. The most encouraging thing about the Magic game to me was not his defense but his play on the offensive end of the floor. If he can stick the jumper he will force defenders to guard him closer, and then he can take them off the dribble. Classic pick your poison basketball. Then he starts drawing double teams. When was the last time you saw a warrior big draw a double team ?

michaeld

CC,
Your insights are usually pretty right on but in this case it seems that between the broadcasts and this blog, Fitz, Meir and yourself are the ones pushing Monta as a legit point guard. And he, not Curry, stars in the W’s holiday commercials, so you might want to rethink the “schmuck homer moron tool” logic this time.

nelliesbiggestfan

dr. john

right now when AR gets the ball defenders lay off him hoping he will shoot. that may be changing (see post 170) . Larry Brown is a great , great coach, everything you said he is. Not a style I care to watch but very effective. the w’s would have been lucky to get him.

CURSE OF MULLIN

nbf: that is a very good question, actually. Webber in his rookie year? Btw, you are starting to sound like a Warrior fan. Better curb your enthusiasm for your own safety.

CURSE OF MULLIN

Who guards Durant? Monta? Morrow? Maggette? Morrow’s too slow for that assignment. Maggette, just not a good wing defender.

CURSE OF MULLIN

Monta looks like one of Santa’s little elves in that red hat.

meir34

I’d guess Vlad Rad will guard Durant, either him or if AR can come right back, he’d be the natural one. But not sure he’s fast enough. I’d go with VR and have AR close at hand. Double teaming part of the time, with one of the guards hassling him from the front.

meir34

153 that would have meant no body to do what VR does and at the same time paying Jax’s huge salary. Don’t think financially that would have been possible, meanwhile Jax sitting at home would keep the Mess aspect still a mess, and no way he’d have been silent about it, or not get some support from our other guys. Seldom does that happen, can’t even recall one off the top of my head, and meanwhile if you are the buyer wouldn’t you suspect damaged goods? I know I would.

CURSE OF MULLIN

I’d like to see AR guard KD but I don’t think Smart will do it. I think Vlad will guard Green. Durant’s too fast for him, I think.

meir34

170- yes I too obviously admire what Larry Brown has done in his career and though you almost always have to simply forget his first year somewhere his team learns good play. Is it always exciting basketball, no. Sound, yes, at least after that first year. Charlotte is an interesting situation with J selling or trying to sell and MJ and his big bucks waiting in the wings for a fairer price.

in some scenarios one could see money coming in for good players. In our case it’s hard to conceive even of Cohan pulling out the bucks to ADD to what we have. With him it’s always subtract whenever you add, and often subtract more than you add. It will take very clever managing to finesse somebody good without destroying the team in the process.

For example, had we done the rumored KG deal I don’t think we’d even be conteders. No way in heaven he’d pay KG the big bucks, add more than he’s ever paid anyone in his history for a second guy (allan) and hold onto his top earner (Pierce) while getting all those mid level and close types to fill out the roster. The deal in fact as reported had ME and AB in it. What’s left then? And KG without a top supporting cast, on basically a two or three year lease, hoping against injury, alone would leave the team what? Minnesota with KG. Only with The City sometimes used as a logo on their shirts instead of ice cubes.

meir34

173 and all. What is wrong with getting a guy to play within himself. Expanding as he’s successful with the new thing. Like Monta and his 3 shot?

I don’t know why the rush with all young guys. I don’t mean to hold anyone back from anything they can accomplish without making a lot of mistakes, but no one seems to believe in the concept of development. It’s ordinarily not like a jack in the box jumping out a full fledged contributing team member and star.

meir34

I’d seen references to the tired bit, and it would be understandable of a tall kid in his second year in the league. And he worked hard in the summer and played summer league. I’m not sure how it works now but in the TMC days Nellie always let the players tell him when they wanted to rest. He of course substituted for matchups usually, but ALWAYS responded to players’ asking out. Back then when I came out of my season’s tix and sat in my frat brothers’ seats three seats from the W bench on the floor, they used a hand signal something like a circular wave. But other times and with different players there were just eye looks and nods. Been away from those nice seats too long, but I’m sure it is similar. Nellie used Turiaf that way most effectively and it’s his style to ask the players to play at top energy all out and then come out when no longer able to. Turiaf, for one, didn’t ask even when he needed to come out, and his performance suffered accordingly. Randolph’s high energy is a big plus when he’s in. The story I’d heard was that he started missing guys moving and reaching in when he got tired. This was from last year, and Smart would notice that and pull him out. I’d heard Nellie sometimes was pissed off that he’d do that after not very long in the game, by Nellie’s standards. I’d trust the guy to know his own limits and they are different for different guys. Everyone remembers that phenomenal NBA finals with MJ running a fever, so sick he couldn’t stand in time outs or foul shots, even sinking to his knees and being lifted up by teammates then when play started again going to the reserve tank for some unbelievable energy plays. I always thought that the finest moment in NBA history. Not his most outstanding play, but his total guts and will to win, which they did. But there is only one MJ. Corey on the other hand had a history of saying he couldn’t play any more when Dunleavy though he was dogging it. Not the same as being tired, exactly, and I don’t see how you can feel what another guy is feeling. You can decide you don’t want the guy on your team though. No way to know what Nellie was really saying. He surely gave AR enough pats on the toosh, and congrats in the game. With Nellie and his mind games he could have been telling the truth or encouraging more gutty performances from his young guy, like this one was. Though I thought his end of game performance, save for one made outside shot and one rebound was quite a bit below the rest of his game performance. Tired? Be interesting to be alone with the guy and ask him off the record. I’d say things are pretty smooth between him and Nellie right now, if not all season. But I don’t want him to go beyond his endurance level and get reinjured.

dr_john

Suggestion: Pre-game takes

Well, we’ve beaten the same rug from both sides, whaddya think about OKC?

Will Krstic still be out?

If OKC starting five is Collison, Green, Durant, Sefalosha, Westbrook how will Smart coach it up?

I’d start Hunter, Randolph, Radmanovic, Morrow and Ellis.

Both teams have some injury (understatement, I guess) but the dubs have answers enough with Curry, Moore, Maggette, Watson.

These OKC guys are like Houston, and that’s a compliment. Seldom would I say the dubs have the deeper team at this juncture, but if they play their hearts out it’s 50-50 for a good road win.

(Not so) Tired

#182

You didn’t get it. Obviously Nelson was either kidding or completely insane. I guess irony is pretty much lost on you- whether from Nellie or me.

I’m sure AR got “tired” last night too, but Nellie stuck with him, mostly because, in his mind, he had to. What goes on in Nellie’s mind in terms of rotations and resting people is obviously open to question, but hardly debate. He has made his motives clear and simple.

Players get tired. They need to rest during a game. That is a given. Nellie likes to ignore that. It is a chickenshit way to coach because it ignores a whole dimension of the game- substitution. We saw the results of that in 2008. We don’t need to sit around and debate it any more.

If Nelson thought that AR could only play a few minutes for all this time, he is farther gone than we thought.

I’m tried of hearing these same excuses, conjectures and red herrings. Things are what they are. Deal with it. Think more, write less.

(Not so) Tired

#161 NBF

“The reason you didn’t see Hunter in the second half is that Nellie doesn’t play two non-shooters on the court at the same time, ever. He just doesn’t do it. Since AR was playing so well there was no room for Hunter.”

Bingo. Correct answer.

And so Nellie sinks his own ship, again. Can’t have them both in there for heavens sake, even though Hunter and AR had both made shots in the game. Even though they had played good defense.

So what does that tell you, NBF? Are you down with that or is that something that just isn’t enough to keep you from being NBF? Is the Nellie Bible worthy of your worship or is it that you are looking for persoanl worthiness in the Nellie Bible?

Inquiring minds would like to know.

(Not so) Tired

#183 dr

I would start the 5 smallest guys we have and play them until the other team stops laughing.

Then I would sub in the 5 tallest guys we have and play them until the other team stops laughing.

Then I would have a rock, paper, scissors throw-down amongst physically able players.

Then I would take a vote of the fans.

Then we would use internet voting.

Internet voting of stat freaks only!

Is there any time left?

Get advice from meir

Still time?

Call Nellie.

The other team freaks out, the crowd goes wild and the NBA fines everyone involved the next day- but we win!

In the ensuing weeks, other failed franchises do the same.

The NBA is changed forever.

——

By the way, I would use this same formula for the draft.

El Topo

Meir says: “I made the point today that you start a season with a rookie (forget how good he is supposed to be or even how good you evaluate him, he’s a rookie, and rookie mistakes kill you in close games against better opponents)…”

So Meir, you really believe all rookies should be sat down at crunch time? Even rookies like Magic, Bird, Jordan? That is preposterous.

We should have replaced Curry with CJ? Even though CJ will be gone next year and Curry will still be here (unless traded)…and he could use the experience.

the calculation that I think Nellie is making is that the defense and rebounding that Hunter would have brought with him wouldn’t be enough to offset the reduction in offensive capabilities of the team. If Hunter replaces Vlad or Maggette there is obviously a tradeoff on the offensive end of the floor. One of the reasons I like Nellies is that he plays an offensive style of basketball. It’s fun to watch and can be very effective, if there is enough talent to work with.

Morrow is the perfect example of Don Nelson’s philosophy. Morrow is perhaps the best shooter in the world but he can’t guard a chair. 3’s are to big for him and 2’s are too quick. He gets isolated a lot because our opponents know he is a weak defender. He just doesn’t have the physical tools to play good defense. Morrow would never get off the bench for many coaches because of his defensive liabilities but he plays for Nellie. Nellie thinks the tradeoff is worth it and so so I.

There are tradeoffs for coaches who like defense as well. Players like morrow who can score in bunches aren’t usually on their rosters. Scoring points is the problem for these coaches.

meir34

el Topo a quote, especially if it isn’t from a real close post should indicate the source so we can reference it. I know I specifically said in most situations and related it to whether the rookie had proven his ability to do well in crunch. To keep them in making the same crunch mistakes surely doesn’t help the team or their confidence. A few can do it, and I know I said with his scoring I’d possibly keep Jennings in, at least to see how he’d do. Most of the greats as well. Magic was great in the clutch as a rookie so I’d certanly, at some time in the season, have made an exception for him. No rule is absolute and I think your quote cut some things.

But by and large, yes, it’s a truism. Rookies make rookie mistakes. Experience does count for something in this life. MJ at his second year was better than his first. MB, even was better while healthy at his second year than his first. So far Curry has had some smoother or less smooth moments. He’s gotten a lot of minutes for his contributions, if you ask me. Randolph, apart from injury, has more experience and gives more of significance. Curry so far has tried to learn to do some of the guard things, and NBA things, and do them with grace. He has. Nothing much of note, however, and his clutch play down the end, as he himself has noted, hasn’t been great. I certainly didn’t invent the idea of using your vets down the stretch final run. It’s classic learning for all coaches in training.

(Not so) Tired

#191 nbf

“One of the reasons I like Nellie is that he plays an offensive style of basketball. It’s fun to watch and can be very effective, if there is enough talent to work with.”

OK, so basically you aren’t that concerned with the final outcome. Thanks for clarifying that.

justafan

Please Larry E buy this team! we really need a winning owner, Then maybe we will see a NBA caliber team. Yes I’m a homer tool (I guess) as I can not route for SAC or LA. I am not embarrassed to say I am a warriors fan, just as love my country, I do not always love our wonderful govt. I really do not like our present owner or management. Of course we could trade Magg hoggy and fire Nellie and send RR to the d league. but we would still have Cohan. So I’ll keep saying it ” Boycott the Warriors (don”t go to the games) until the A-hole sells!

Jerry

After watching the Oak. City game tonite I just had to send in a note..As I see it, Ellis caught the league by surprise for a few games. Now they are catching on to what he’s doing, so they are Dlb. him much more often. Unfortunely Monte hasn’t figured out what to do yet, and the Coaching staff hasn’t helped him or he’s not paying attention.. Right now Monte is caught between STUBORN AND STUPID, he thinks he’s a SUPERSTAR but he’s not..He thinks he’s Kobee, Lebrown, D-Wade, Carmello, Paul Pierce or any other real SUPERSTAR and get all the foul calls but he’s not and he get’s upset over the non-calls.. He might get there one day, I hope so because I like him and his game and I’m a W’s fan. Instead of forcing the issue he needs to set up his other teamates much more often, I know he thinks he’s the only one who can score all of the time. But all he’s doing is frustrating himself and the rest of the team by forcing himself to the basket when the opisitation is stacked waiting for him. I know that missing Morrow is huge so when he returns I hope that the Coachs will sit him down and explain this to him. He needs to be a DECOY more often and set up the other guys with passes early in the game. After a few passes the other team will realize that they can’t DLB. him all the time and he will be able to get to the RIM easier. I noticed that RAD didn’t want to shoot at all tonite from distance, well then send him down low on the blocks and post up a couple of shots..Well thats my comment I hope someone reads it and passes it along to the team because it’s the best thing to do..Good luck guys…A fan Jerry

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